TS - Monster in the cave - part 1

At the edge of the forest a large group of tokota and handlers stood gathered. In the front and a bit away from the rest stood Amarok with Kaylan seated in the saddle on his back. He was looking back as the rest slowly got ready to leave. Next to him sat Ayane on Bluestone haven's newest charge, Tikaani. He seemed completely uninterested in this whole ordeal, head hanging low to the ground as Ayane hung over her saddle to talk to her neighbor. Kaylan vaguely wondered if he was bored by her incessant talking. Moving on, next to Aya you had his little sister Kate. Katherine was riding Voltaire again, their temporary charge. She had taken quite the liking to the golden curly maned tokota and Kaylan feared she'd want one too. Now well feared... She had mentioned wanting one, but he couldn't really afford one. It was like a little girl asking for a unicorn. He wished he could give her one, but it was impossible. Completing the little gossip circle - or what Kaylan assumed was gossip. Why else did girls form circles while whispering, giggling and waving their arms about?- you had Wenona and her tokota Pascou, a stunning - as Mauja called it - halfmane with what apparently was quite the impressing genetic material. The women and her tokota had needed a guide for the region, so Ayane had asked her to come along on their trip. He was used by her doing this by now, though he preferred women over strange men like last time. In the back you had Mauja, riding one of their guest tokota Tikarok, a lovely brown accented female and his little brother, Noah, who was quite in his element riding Roxanne, another tokota that was temporarily homed with them and a very impressive one at that. The all black tokota had immediately become one of Noah's favorites and he took every opportunity he could get to give the animal some exercise that included him one her back. For the the good of the animal... Of course... Mauja seemed to be trying to explain the significance of Pascou's Van Gogh piebald marking, but with seemingly no success in getting his brother interested. The boy just didn't care for rarities and such, he saw tokotas he liked and that was that. Kaylan was more inclined towards the latter too, so he could relate to his brother's feelings. Well, at least he was being civil enough and not insulting Mauja.

Deciding everyone was well ready and set to go, Kaylan checked his supplies tied with cords and along with bags secured to his saddle. Before giving Amarok the signal to start moving, softly, but firmly pressing his heels in the tokotas side. Happy to finally get forwards with it, Tikaani quickly followed along, making Ayane needing to grab her saddle to regain her balance. "Hey, we're off!" She said laughing as she noticed why Tikaani had suddenly moved. Taking hold of her reigns, she took lead over the grey tokota as she steered him into the woods. Laughing loudly at Aya almost toppling over, Katherine also moved after them, while carding her hands through Voltaire's manes, happy he had stood put until given the signal to move. Kaylan had to admit that, seeing the two go, he could understand why Kate had taken such a liking to him. He had a certain air over him, a way of moving that made him look naturally imposing as if he knew that he was quite the tokota to behold. Well. He kinda felt bad for their own tokotas. His brother and sister seemed to like others more. The picky kidos these days.

Pascoe moving forward so that Wenona could keep up with the other two girls, quickly caught Mauja's attention who was waving his arms in the tokota's general direction speaking loudly. Apparently Noah had managed to get on his nerves again though this time by not reacting at all rather than insulting him. Well, maybe ignoring him could be seen as an insult too. Kaylan had the sudden urge to drag his hand over his face as he looked back at them as they moved along, now really starting to argue. Seriously those two. Poor Tikarok and Roxanne were caught in the crossfire, ears twitching every time one of the two got too loud.

This went on for a while as they moved between the trees, until the brown haired man, eventually got enough of it and halted Amarok abruptly. Their little group came to a halt almost making the two boys in the back ride into them but luckily Tikarok and Roxanne were paying attention. "You two, cut it out, you're going to chase off every living thing that we come close off," he scolded. The boys snapped to attention and Mauja blushed while Noah glared, but he received muttered agreements from both which satisfied him enough. The group having fallen quiet, Wenona took the moment to ask something about their trip. "Where exactly are we going? Have you some kind of plan or are we just going wherever?" She asked, looking between Ayane and Kaylan.

"We were planning out on taking a trip to the cave-system nearby," Ayane answered as first when Kaylan looked at her to reply. Mauja visibly paled at the announcement making both Kaylan and Noah smirk. Noah because he knew how easily Mauja was spooked, Kaylan because he knew and was of the opinion that the white haired had had it coming for not paying attention earlier. Time to man up city boy. Ayane continued explaining to Wenona about what they were going to do. "Kaylan found that you can take a short cut through them, all the way to the other side of the mountain. My family has a hunting cabin over there we can sleep just by the lake on the other side. It'd be perfect to camp up!"

"So why don't we take the scenic route?" Wenona asked as logical follow up question. "I don't really mind a couple of extra hours on this fellow here," she added patting Pascoe's neck. The half-mane wagged his tail contentedly. Kate laughed, knowing the answer to that. She had actually asked Kaylan before they left the farm 'cause she had been paying attention before, unlike two other boys. "If we ride around the valley of the West it'll take longer 'cause we gotta move around the Valleys lake. The other side of the mountain has a rather narrow canyon were we could pass through but summer isn't exact the best season for this."

Mauja agreed with this. "Yeah, when it rains, water can rise extremely fast flooding the canyon and you risk drowning, very dangerous." He said.

"Sound like fun," Wenona replied. Kaylan shrugged, patting Amarok's neck. "The canyon isn't very tokota friendly anyway. We're better of using the caves. They're rather roomie so we'll be able to walk in pairs next to each other too."

"The caves it is."

The rest of the walk went rather quietly and they reached the cave's entrance without a hitch. The inside of it looked rather dark and Mauja asked the worried question: "Are we gonna go in there like that?" Making Noah grin like mad. Suddenly clamping a hand over the boy's shoulder - making Mauja jump and yelp in the progress and making Tikarok growl - he lowered his voice suspiciously, whispering loudly. "Of course. Don't you know the Vampire bats in the cave are attracted to light. They'd attack us if we used any. We'll have to be quiet as is to keep them at bay, so don't make to much sound."

He received a smak on the head from Kate. "Stop scaring him. Don't listen to my dumb-ass brother, Mauja, he's just messing with you. We got torches."

"What we're gonna use fire?!" It was Noah's turn to look uncomfortable.

"What? No, we're using flashlights, you idiot!"

"Who are you calling an idiot, idiot?! You said torches that-"

"Enough!" Ayane was the one yelling this time, her voice making them all cringe. Voltaire actually let out a whine at the yelling, apparently not liking the tone of voice. "If you yell like that in the cave, you're gonna make the whole thing collapse on us." Kaylan commented dryly. Ayane gave him a pointed look. "That's your family creating all this commotion," she said meaningfully. Kaylan got the point.

Riding to the back, he took Noah to the front, wanting to keep an eye on the boy, less he try and spook Mauja again.

"Nice family," Wenona remarked, while digging up the torch in her saddle bags. Ayane shrugged. "You get used to it," she said, taking her own flashlight out. "Well, I hope the tokota do too," Wenona answered, glancing towards Tikarok and Roxanne. "Kind off," Ayane said, steering Tikaani in the right direction as Amarok and Roxanne before them walked into the darkness of the cave. "But not completely," she admitted to the women. "We try to train them - Noah and Kaylan I mean - but it seems the tokota are better at ignoring their bickering than those two make progress in doing so less." She said shrugging. Wenona laughed at that. "Veeerry nice family," she repeated. "I guess you got your work cut out for you, don't you?" She said holding up the flashlight as they entered the dark. The remaining two youngsters following along. Ayane laughed also, flicking on her own flashlight. "I guess I do though Kate and Noah are Kaylan's brother and sister. He got the most work to do."